When there is a “pot luck” of any sort, I have a favorite dish to carry to someone’s home, especially during the holiday season. My friend, Debi, had several of us over for Christmas brunch and I took my Cran-Apple Pie. Cranberries and apples just seem to go together and say “Christmas!” Here it is just before putting it in the oven.
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CRAN-APPLE CRUMB PIE BEFORE BAKING
My crust recipe is one I found in a magazine back in the 50s (early marriage) and I have not rolled out a pie crust since then. Everyone wants to know how it’s made because it is so tender and flaky. I debated sharing it online, but I hate for it to get lost.
No-roll Pie Crust
Place 1 ½ cup flour, 1 ½ teaspoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt directly into an ungreased 9” pie pan. Pour out ½ cup canola oil, then add 2 tablespoons cold milk and mix with a fork until milky. Pour into flour mix in the pan and stir it all together. Press the mix into the pan until it resembles a regular pie crust. Leave enough up on the sides to squeeze into a rim. It’s light and flaky – doesn’t leave a mess and never requires rolling out!
Lucy’s Cran-Apple Crumb Pie
1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
4 cups peeled, sliced and chopped apples ( I use Fuji, but any apple will do)
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
Preheat oven to 425 F. Gently mix berries, apples, sugar, and flour until fruit is coated. Dump into pie crust and top with crumb topping.
Crumb Topping
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter (I use half butter and half yogurt spread).
Mix together until crumbly, and put over top of pie.
Bake about 40 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when it starts to bubble and brown.
Here it is right out of the oven. Needless to say, I had only an empty dish to bring back home! Along the way, I picked up some vanilla-caramel swirl ice cream to put on top.
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FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN
Makes me hungry just to write about it!
Wow, that looks delicious. You are so right about cranberries & apples. They go beautifully together. What a lovely pie.
Thanks so much! I’m getting ready to make a sweet cherry pie today using that same pie crust. If you’ve never made that recipe, you might try it. I remember one Thanksgiving when I had 12 pie pans lined up, making crusts for them all! A daunting task at best, but so easy with the no-roll crust. By the way, I checked out your site and it’s great! I’ll go back and read more.
Aloha,
Lucy